Nam Định FC of Vietnam will go into their ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ semi-final against Selangor FC next month with a familiar face on the bench as the returning Vũ Hồng Việt seeks to lead the team to a place in the title decider.
Hồng Việt replaced Mauro Jéronimo as head coach in February, relinquishing his role as technical director and will take charge of the V.League 1 2024/25 champions’ crunch two-legged encounter with the Malaysia Super League side on May 6 and 13.
“Returning to lead Nam Định is a great honour and a source of happiness for me,” says Hồng Việt.
“This is a place where I have built a close connection for more than four years, contributing to the development of the team and helping the club achieve several important successes.”
With a coveted place in the Shopee Cup™ final at stake, where Nam Định is the second Vietnamese club after Công An Hà Nội FC to progress into the Knockout Stage, Hồng Việt’s first tasks since resuming coaching duties have been to rebuild his team’s confidence and chart strategies against Selangor.
“Recently, I have seen that the players have gradually lost confidence, especially after a number of disappointing results,” he says.
“Since returning, my priority has been to restore their confidence, motivate them and help them perform at a higher level so that the team can regain its winning momentum.”
Jéronimo left the club by mutual consent following a run of indifferent form in the V.League 1 that had seen Nam Định’s hopes of retaining the domestic crown won under Hồng Việt’s leadership recede rapidly. It was a sharp contrast to their strong form in the group phase of the Shopee Cup™ as Nam Định enjoyed an unbeaten record to top of Group B ahead of Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim FC, who play the other semi-final tie against defending champions Buriram United FC of Thailand.
Powered by the goals of Vietnam international striker Nguyễn Xuân Son, who is the tournament’s leading scorer with seven goals, Nam Định won four and drew one of their five group matches to set up the meeting with the Group A runners-up.
“I have studied Selangor’s recent matches and consider them a strong opponent,” says Hồng Việt. “They play with great physicality and pace. It will certainly be a difficult game, but our objective is to overcome them and secure a place in the final.
“Reaching the final would be another important milestone for the club and would reaffirm Nam Định’s status in regional club football.”
Hồng Việt is no stranger to success with Nam Định having led the club to the V.League 1 title in the 2023/24 season as well as in 2024/25 while also winning the 2024 Vietnamese Super Cup.
The 47-year-old has now set his sights on adding the Shopee Cup™ to his trophy collection and is drawing inspiration from the run of fellow V.League 1 side Công An Hà Nội to last year’s championship decider.
“Seeing another Vietnamese club reach the final last season is an extra source of motivation for us,” says Hồng Việt.
“It shows that Vietnamese football can compete strongly at this level, and it gives us even more belief and determination to try to go one step further this year.”
Nam Định will travel to Selangor on May 6 before hosting the second leg at Thiên Trường Stadium a week later. The other semi-final will see defending champions Buriram United face hosts JDT with their return fixture in Thailand on May 13.
The final will be played on a home-and-away basis with the first leg to be held on May 20 and the second leg on May 27.
Catch all the Shopee Cup™ news at https://aseanutdfc.com/asean-club-championship and @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X and LinkedIn.
